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prettygoodwordrhebok or rhebuck (REE-bok) - n., a large, deerlike antelope of southern Africa (Pelea capreolus with brownish-gray, curly fur and straight horns.
The name was borrowed in the 1810s from Afrikaans, from Dutch reebok, roebuck, or a male roe deer -- the antelope looking sufficiently like the European cervid as to be named after it. Whence the roebuck's name is lost in the mists of time, but may ultimately come from PIE *rei-, streaked/spotted.
---L.
The name was borrowed in the 1810s from Afrikaans, from Dutch reebok, roebuck, or a male roe deer -- the antelope looking sufficiently like the European cervid as to be named after it. Whence the roebuck's name is lost in the mists of time, but may ultimately come from PIE *rei-, streaked/spotted.
---L.
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Date: 2013-03-19 04:51 am (UTC)OED3 (2010) concurs re: likelihood (it says "probably") of descent from *rei-. In modern German, "Reh" is a deer, full stop, and the German reflex of "deer" is the generic animal-word, "Tier"....
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Date: 2013-03-19 02:09 pm (UTC)---L.